Open Your Eyes (4 page)

Chapter Seven

My neck was straining as I opened my eyes. No wonder. My head was resting on top of
Nick’s chest, his heat surrounding me.

After eating our cheesecake and discussing the show we had just see
n, all careful to avoid mentioning the Jonathan incident, the young ladies dozed off on Olivia’s queen-size bed while I applied a wet cloth to Nick’s hands and rubbed anti-septic cream into his knuckles.

We sat there on the bed, making small talk, unwilling to disturb the girls, un
willing to end the night. How the two of us also dozed off, I couldn’t remember, but I wasn’t really surprised that I had naturally gravitated toward Nick even in my sleep. His one leg hung off the edge of the bed with his foot on the floor, his arm wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me against his side.

I used this chance to study his face.
He looked so peaceful, the lines around his eyes and mouth softened by sleep. In spite of the grey strands invading his temples, he looked a lot younger than his forty-three years. My gaze feasted on his beautiful features for a very long time, drinking in every small detail; his strong jaw, the slightly crooked Romanesque nose and a small scar under his chin, barely visible under the stubble that had miraculously emerged since we had fallen asleep.

Reluctant to wake him
in case he decided to leave, it took all of my self-control not to reach out to stroke his face. I was being selfish, I really didn’t know if I would see him again after he said goodbye.

Some
time during the night, the girls had crawled under the bedcovers, peacefully sleeping like long-time friends at a high school sleepover. Peering at their beautiful faces, so young and perfect, radiating innocence, I shivered at Jonathan’s lewd remarks. Scumbag. No wonder Nick lost it. The thought of Jonathan touching these young beauties turned my stomach. And his suggestions about Nick… I could punch Jonathan for even thinking such unsavory thoughts, never mind saying them out loud.

Nick
must have sensed that I was awake. He slowly opened his eyes, confused for a few seconds before remembering where he was. Caught in the act of staring at him, I drew in a short sharp breath when he looked down at me, straight into my eyes. A wicked grin spread over his face as he turned onto his side and hauled me even closer, encaging me with both his arms.

“What a lovely way to wake up,” he whispered as he planted a kiss in my hair. His big hand rubbed up my back leisurely, as if he was
relishing the moment, his palm applying just the right amount of pressure to my spine to make me want to purr. In spite of trying to suppress it, a small moan escaped my lips as he reached my neck and gently traced up it with his fingers, till his hand disappeared into my hair. Very gently, he massaged the base of my scalp till I dug my forehead into his chest, the simple touch sending ripples of pleasure through my already aroused body.

Good
God! I barely knew the man, but his touch alone could ignite a fire in my belly of a magnitude I had never experienced before. If he could get this kind of toe-curling reaction from me by merely massaging my neck, what would making love with him do to me?

He gently tugged a fist full of
my hair, raising my face up to his. I had closed my eyes, not wanting him to see the desire burning deep within me. My heart pounded in my chest as I tried desperately to keep my breathing even.

“Look at me,
open your eyes,” he whispered. I obeyed, even though it would expose my deepest feelings, slowly meeting his intense gaze. I gasped at the yearning in his eyes. My eyes melted into his as he searched my soul, seeing deeper than anyone ever had.

“Natalie,” he groaned softly as his
head dipped and his lips covered mine. The kiss was gentle at first, a meeting of mouths and tasting one another. “So sweet,” he murmured against my mouth, then let his tongue slide along my lips, till I parted my mouth to let him slip in. He tasted of cheesecake and sleep…and passion and fire. His silky tongue glided along mine, a mingling of breaths and raw desire.

C
upping my bottom, he pulled me against his body, closing the gap between us. So far I had carefully avoided touching in intimate places, much like a virgin in denial of the awakening of her body.

His
arousal pushed into my belly, and I let out a gasp that he swallowed quickly with his mouth. My pulse quickened at the feel of his hard length throbbing against me, only the fabric of our clothing between us. The warm liquid pooling between my legs begged for more of him, but I lay there, unable to move, stunned that this man so obviously wanted me. I was getting more and more out of my depth with every passing moment. I wanted him, yet I wasn’t sure how to respond.

I’d never been a one-night stand type of girl. And I definitely didn’t do sex on a first date. Hell, this wasn’t even supposed to be a date. And he was virtually a stranger. Yet the want
– the longing – in my belly overwhelmed my senses. I wanted to rub up against his erection; I wanted to kiss him till I was breathless. But I just lay there, dumbstruck.

“Natalie?”

I screwed my eyes shut.

“What’s wrong?” he
whispered, his voice hoarse.

“The…the girls…” I stammered, grateful for a valid excuse for freezing up.

“I want you, Natalie. God, how I want you…” He thrust his pelvis against my stomach, grinding his steel hard length into me to affirm his words. “But I would never take you now. Not like this.”

His words had a strange effect on me –
calming, evoking absolute trust.

“I sense your fear, my little one, why are you so afraid?”
His husky voice soothed me over. How could I tell him? Words weren’t enough.

“
Open your eyes so I can see what you’re feeling. It's OK, I won’t hurt you.” Concern laced his voice. His hand cupped my chin, his thumb gently caressing my lips. I could drown in his touch alone.

My lids were heavy. Heavy with desire and pain and fear.

“Open, Natalie,” he coaxed so gently I couldn’t refuse.

I forced my eyes to open, my lids lifting
slowly, trying to force my gaze to be neutral. But the moment I looked into his – soft and gentle – all the emotions came rushing back. This man could look deep into my soul without me uttering a word.

A sigh of relief escaped his
lips. “You want me too…” he breathed as a wicked, wicked grin spread over his lips.

He must have read the confusion in my eyes. “For a moment there I thought you didn’t want me, little one. But your eyes tell me everything I need to know.”

The pressure from his thumb increased on my lips, and as a small gasp escaped, he pushed his thumb into my mouth. I sucked his thumb hungrily, my groin throbbing with want.

“Ahh,
God,” he groaned. “What you do to me…” He took my hand in his and slipped it between us, resting my palm on his erection, which had grown even harder and longer as I touched it. “I want you.” I stroked his length lovingly, my thumb rubbing over the tip roughly, sucking his thumb harder and harder.

He pulled his thumb from my mouth and instantly replaced it with a warm wet kiss, his tongue wild, stroking, teasing, hot and wet.

His hands slipped under my top, blazing a hot trail across my skin, finding my breasts like missiles, pushing my bra cups up. “You feel so good,” he moaned softly, “a perfect handful,” as his thumbs rolled and pinched my aching nipples. His words turned me on even more, the heat between my legs rising, my panties wet with want.

I slung my leg over his, pressing my body as close to his as
I could get it, rubbing my mound against his throbbing erection, desperate for the friction, pushing him closer with my leg on his ass. It was driving me wild, in spite of the barrier of clothing between us.

Th
ere we were: making out like two rabbits, hot for one another, the two sleeping girls only a few feet away.

“Stop. You’re killing me. I'm going to come in my pants,” he groaned. “You’re so
damn hot.”

One of the girls let out a sigh and turned around
in the bed. God, I hope she wasn’t awake. He withdrew his hands from my breasts, and I instantly felt the loss.
Don’t stop now!

We lay there for a long moment, his one hand on my stomach,
still under my top, our chests heaving. We were the adults here, yet we couldn’t control ourselves. I closed my eyes to hide my disappointment, shame at how easily I let myself go washing over me. Thankfully it sounded like the girls were sleeping soundly, even snoring lightly.

S
till catching my breath, trying to come back to my senses, I felt his hand slip below the waistband of my pants. The simple touch of his palm on my skin set me on fire. His hand traced over the lace of my panty, over my mound, teasing, searing my flesh.

“Open, Natalie. I'm not done with you yet,”
he croaked, his voice thick with emotion.

God
, I’d never had a man tell me to open my legs so blatantly, so sensuously. But I wanted to. I wanted to feel his hand on my most private parts. To finish what he started. He slipped his fingers under the lace and my legs involuntarily opened slightly wider, eager for the contact. He slid his fingers between my warm and very swollen flesh, finding the hard little bud burning for his touch. “I bet you taste so sweet,” he rasped.

“Come for me,” he coaxed
, his voice low and gruff as his fingers expertly drove me to surrender. I arched my back as I came, hard, my body squirming as I pulsed till my muscles released the tension and a wonderful warmth spread over me.

“
Next time you come will be in my mouth,” he promised.
Thank you God – there will be a next time!
Warm tears slid down my cheeks. Nick gently kissed them away, sucking up the droplets.

“Hush, little one,” he soothed, stroking my arm
till the tears stopped. “Now turn around,” he ordered. We lay spooned, his erection still raging in his pants, but he seemed content to let it stay, his arm pulling me tightly against his chest as he sighed in my hair.

“What you do to me,” he moaned as he throbbed into my back, just to let me know for sure. “And what I still want to do to you…”

His words pleased me no end.
He wants me
.

“Go to sleep,” he said as he planted a kiss at the base of my neck. I drifted off to sleep in his arms.

Chapter Eight

Nick

Jonathan. Just seeing the little prick last night brought all the anger flooding back. I closed my eyes and wiped over my face with my hand, trying to erase the memory that still kicked me in the gut every time. Could I ever learn to trust again? Even after all these years, thinking back to my college days sent a rage of untold magnitude coursing through my veins. Nearly twenty years had passed, and I still wanted to kill him.

Five o’ clock in the afternoon and it was alr
eady dark outside. That’s what I hated most about winter. Not the cold as much as the short days.

As soon as I entered my apartment,
I poured myself a stiff drink from the crystal decanter at the wet bar and threw it back in one gulp. Damn, that burned all the way down. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and poured another.

Jasmine.
I was in love then. Young, foolish and hopelessly in love with a pretty, leggy blond who had my hormones racing. I’d finally decided she was
the one
and saved up for several months to buy her a ring that would be worthy of her beauty. I trusted that she was as madly in love with me as I was with her.

Turned out she wasn’t. On the very night I decided to ask her to be my wife, I walked in on her and Jonathan fucking like rabbits in our shared college dorm room.

The image of Jonathan with his dick up her ass while she was tied to the bedposts wasn’t one I would ever shake off. Sure Jasmine and I had sex – lots of it – but here I was thinking she was naïve and pure, not into the kinky sex she obviously got from another source – my dear cousin.

But that wasn’t what shredded my heart. I learned that she and Jonathan had been fucking for as long as she had been my girlfriend. That some nights he had fucked her mere hours before she had sex with me. That I shar
ed my girlfriend with my cousin for over a year without knowing. That they were into kinky sex and laughed together at the plain vanilla sex she and I shared – and at my naivety.

The taunting didn’t stop there. Jonathan informed me
with sadistic pleasure that he and I always had the same tastes in women. That even when we were in high school he went after the girl I was with behind my back. And because we looked so similar and he was the bad boy, he always charmed his way into their pants. Even if I hadn’t been having sex with them, he got off on the fact that he could seduce them in secret.

I still hear
d Jonathan’s snide voice in my head: “Why not share, Nick? We could have an awesome threesome. Even when you guys get married one day. Just imagine the mind-blowing sex!”

Jasmine swore nothing would give her greater pleasure than to be filled from the front and behind by two men
– cousins – at the same time. I vomited. Violently.

I nearly killed a man. I’d never felt so
dishonored and dirty in my life.

That night,
I walked out of that room and out of college with the ring still intact in my pocket.

Jonathan went
to London to study further and opened a branch of the family business there. My uncle knew his son wasn’t safe if he stayed anywhere near me. Over fifteen years passed before Jonathan ever came back to New York. Of all the rotten luck to bump into him at the show last night.

For our famil
y’s sake, I had since learned to tolerate being around Jonathan on special occasions and family reunions. To not want to literally tear his head off.

But he always knew how to push my buttons.
Last night was no exception.

Maybe Jonathan had a death wish?

The thought of Natalie wanting someone else made my stomach twist.

Sharing my woman was never an option.

That was why I totally lost control when Jonathan suggested I share Natalie with him. Not only that, he wanted to defile two beautiful young women in my care. Just the thought of Jonathan touching any one of them turned the blood in my veins to ice.

I needed another scotch. Now. I needed it to warm me from the inside out.